HP has opened a new datacentre at Wynyard near Billingham in north-east England, measuring 300,000 square feet. The datacentre, which will eventually host data for large government and corporate clients, became operational last week.
The datacentre is Tier 3, meaning it has hefty levels of security. It is designed to host clients of HP's Enterprise Services division. Some of the data held by the Department for Work and Pensions is hosted at the centre, while the Ministry of Defence is also a client.
Wynyard is mainly fresh-air cooled, which keeps costs down and lowers environmental impact, according to HP. The company said it built the centre at Wynyard to take advantage of the cold winds that blow off the North Sea.
This picture shows some of the cabinets in data hall 2. Vents in the floor allow air to circulate around the hall. The temperature of the air is maintained at 24°C. There are four 1,000-square metre halls, each with a power capacity of 2.2kW per metre squared.
Talkback
Anyone who has lived in Cambridge for a decade like me will immediately recollect the chilly time that the Fens people have to put up with. Apparently the reason for this is that Cambridge is in a Siberian wind tunnel. I have never been offered the evidence for this, but think that it might be useful to stop the supercomputers in our Fen Silicon Valley from over-heating!
It's not quite on the sea front its about 30 mins drive give or take a few, although it can be cold around there, its not exactly baltic either.
I could understand a little more if it was near to the sea but its not, so i guess the cost's where better there, and its away from built up area's.
I winter fish on the north sea, and it will put hairs on ya chest, but not that much makes its way that far inland.
I've been taken around the site by the guys that are responsible for building and fitting out and I must say, it was very, very impressive indeed! I'd have no hesitation in putting our hardware in their, not only is it tier 3, and we probably couldn't afford to get that level of PUE.